Appointment
by soultaker78
Summary: Mako goes to speak with General Iroh following the events of 'the sting'.


Mako made his way to General Iroh's office, having scheduled an appointment earlier for a social call with his comrade in arms from the Equalist revolution.

"Hello Mako," Iroh said as Mako took a seat in front of the General's desk. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I need to tell you something important," Mako started. "Actually, it's really not that important, but there could be problems later and I just want to get it out of the way: I'm the one who told president Raiko about Korra's plan to circumvent his authority and ask for your help directly."

"I see," General Iroh said passively. "Why did you do that?"

"Mostly because I thought that if Korra was going through it, she hadn't thought it through." Mako explained. "Also, he confronted me about knowing anything about Korra's plans at the police station while I was on duty and as a government employee I was greatly conflicted about lying directly to his face, but that's another thing."

"You have that little faith in the Avatar?" Iroh asked incredulously.

"You would not be asking that if you were us in the South Pole," Mako began. "She went to rescue her father knowing that it would start a civil war but did it anyway mostly because she was angry at Unalaq for manipulating her trust in him: trust she only extended him because of issues she had with Tenzin and her father."

"You're going to have to explain that last one to me," Iroh said and Mako explained how Korra's resentment over Tenzin dragging his feet with her spiritual training and finding out about her father's banishment from the North made her more receptive to taking on Unalaq as her new mentor figure.

"But I'm getting off topic," Mako said. "I think we skipped the part where you explode on for my subterfuge."

"I'm not mad at you," Iroh said. "When Korra asked for my help, I did want to give it to her and even weighed my options out loud in front of her. But now that I've thought about it a bit more, it's probably for the best that you took that course of action of the table. If I helped the Avatar, President Raiko would be understandably pissed that we circumvented his authority. He would do everything he could to back out of a state of aggression with the North Pole, then get back at the Avatar and I for our attempted insurrection."

"Exactly!" Mako loudly proclaimed. "I sympathize with Korra's desire to help her homeland and understand that she is upset that her first plan to get military aid for the South by asking nicely didn't work but picking a fight with the president about it would only make things worse in the long run."

_Especially for the Avatar, _Iroh thought. _As the son of the current Fire Lord, I'm politically connected to the point that I'd get off relatively light: I'd probably just be court-martialed and stripped of my rank instead of imprisoned for treason or handed over to the North as an act of appeasement for whatever brand of justice they felt like administering. The Avatar probably wouldn't be so lucky._

"I'm glad we could get this out of the way," Mako said. "There's something else I want to talk to you about: I know who's been behind the recent bombings."

"Who is it?" Iroh asked.

"Varrick," Mako said and an awkward silence came over the pair.

"Are we talking about the same Varrick who escaped the Northern blockade while inside a platypus-bear with his assistant?" Iroh asked.

_I was a really hoping that he hadn't heard about that, _Mako thought.

"I know how ridiculous this sounds," Mako began.

"Do you? Because you said it anyway," Iroh countered.

"Can you hear me out before you say I don't know what I'm talking about?" Mako said and Iroh nodded yes. Mako then began explaining how he went to the set of the latest Nuk-tuk of the South episode and learned that the remote detonator used in the bombing of the Southern cultural center was a Varrick Industries product.

"And when you think about it," Mako continued, "the bombings have indirectly benefited him. Even though the individuals haven't been caught, an overwhelming majority of Republic City has decided that the bombings are the result of the Northern Water Tribe bringing the war to the city. As a result, public support for aiding the South increases and if it keeps up, President Raiko might have to change his mind about sending troops. Before we continue, have you read today's paper?"

"No," Iroh answered.

"Then you'll want to look at this," Mako said as he reached into his jacket of the day's newspaper with the relevant part on top. Iroh took the paper and started reading an article on the Varrick Industries buyout of Future Industries. He was particularly intrigued by the section that stated that because Future Industries was on the verge of bankruptcy even before the recent intercepted shipments and warehouse robbery, Varrick was able to purchase F.I.'s intellectual capital for a steal.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Iroh said. "But the evidence you have so far is pretty flimsy."

"I know," Mako admitted. "Varrick can easily claim theft to explain the detonators, especially with the lawyers he can hire. And everything else is purely circumstantial. There's also public tensions to consider: like Korra, people originally from or descended from the South pole are greatly upset about their homeland being occupied by the North and President Raiko's refusal to fight the injustice even while the North have seemingly brought the war to the United Republic. I try to pin the bombings on one of the South's most affluent citizens who is trying to get public support on their side with the lack of solid of evidence I have, it could start a riot."

"Chief Beifong tell you that?" Iroh asked.

"I haven't brought this to the chief at all," Mako explained. "I've been having some personal issues with her. The only thing my suspicions will make her want to do is yell at me for overstepping my boundaries again. She definitely won't want to take legal action against Varrick despite all the obstacles I mentioned earlier."

"Mako," Iroh began, "if you came to me hoping that I would do things Chief Beifong wouldn't, you're going to be very disappointed. I may be a general, but I have very limited authority to act in domestic matters: especially with the president keeping a close eye on me while the fleet's on lock-down for talking to the Avatar behind his back."

"I thought as much," Mako deadpanned. "But you've already helped me by letting me get this off my chest."

"You haven't told your friends about this?" Iroh asked.

"My friends are all in Varrick's pocket without knowing it," Mako said with a good dose of venom. "Korra thinks of him as a like-minded ally in their mutual goal of expelling the Northern occupational force, Asami sees him as the man who gave her sinking company a life-preserver and Bolin is grateful to Varrick for making him a mover star."

Mako bowed his head in depression as he thought about how Varrick positioned himself masterfully with his friends by leveraging their various issues: Korra and Asami's desperation to save their home and business, respectively, and Bolin's desire to break away from being under his and Korra's shadows.

"I probably should have seen Varrick's dark side coming," Mako began, "but it was very hard to take him seriously while I thought he was just a nut job." Mako put his hands and his temples and slid them back. "What happened to me?"

"Want to talk about it?" Iroh asked.

"I've already dumped on you enough with my issues," Mako said.

"I can tell how much it's helping you by getting this off your chest," Iroh said. _And I'm looking for any excuse to not go back to doing paperwork, _he mentally added. "Go on."

"It seems like everyone in my life is pissed at me for some reason or another right now," Mako said. "In addition to all the problems I talked about with not being able to get anyone on my side about Varrick, Korra's pissed at me for breaking up with her after sabotaging her attempted insurrection, Bolin has picked a very bad time to start getting back at me for not helping him with an earlier problem of his and Asami….. oh god, I don't even want to think about Asami."

"Come on, let it out," Iroh encouraged.

"All right, but I waned you," Mako said as he took a deep breath. "Asami and I used to date at the same time I thought I might like Korra as more than a friend. We broke up semi-amiably right after the Equalist revolution. I gave her some words of encouragement after we found out about the warehouse robbery and she kissed me. That was very enjoyable, except now I think she might want to get back together with me and I don't want to deal with romantic stuff right now with all the insane crap going on the world, including but not limited to you and I being the only ones who know the truth about her new boss being a warmongering scumbag of the highest caliber."

Mako started catching his breath after explaining his situation. There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment.

"I am so glad I'm not in your shoes," Iroh said.

"Anyway," Mako continued. "Romantic complications aside, having so many people I'm close to pissed with me right now is starting to get to me. There was a time in my life, by which I mean about three weeks ago, where I was taken more seriously than this and I'm very pissed and sad that that time is not right now while the world seems to be falling apart."

There was yet another awkward silence between them.

"Thanks for listening to all this," Mako said. "I may need to see you again in the likely event that my situation gets even bleaker. For now, I'm going to go visit Hiroshi Sato in prison and rub it in his face that his daughter sold his company."

"Let me get this straight," Iroh began. "You're going to go taunt a psychotic war criminal who has nothing to do with your current problems because you can't make any headway with Varrick."

"That's right," Mako admitted.

"Can I come with?" Iroh asked.

"Sure, why not," Mako said. The two got up and walked out of the general's office.

….

Author's notes: I came up with this idea after 'the sting' and took me a while to finish it. That's why Mako is conflicted about Asami.


End file.
